Showing blog posts tagged with Maria Elena Durazo

One hundred immigrant women are walking 100 miles to welcome Pope Francis and remind the whole world of the importance of immigrant work, and working people in the labor movement will join them. On Saturday, Sept. 19, Neidi Dominguez, director of Worker Centers and assistant director for Community Change at the AFL-CIO, and María Elena Durazo, vice president of Immigration, Civil Rights and Diversity at UNITE HERE, will join these courageous women to speak out against immigrant families being separated as a result of the broken immigration system in the United States. The labor movement is proud to join the women in their fight against wage theft, gender discrimination and sexual harassment on the job. As we await the historic arrival of Pope Francis, we join activists from across the country to give him a warm welcome and uplift the voices of the immigrant women who help make this country better every day.

With so many companies following the Walmart model of pursuing policies that put profits for the 1% above the needs of working families, it's a challenge to use your own spending decisions to protect and expand the middle class. But Labor 411 is on the job and they keep making your job easier. Today marks the release of the seventh edition of Labor 411 Los Angeles!

At a leadership seminar this week with 56 Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1245 activists and Los Angeles labor leader María Elena Durazo, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich declared that the U.S. economy is “rigged” in favor of the rich.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is inviting Pope Francis to visit the city to see how low-wage workers in the United States are struggling in a stagnant economy. A letter from the federation's executive secretary-treasurer, María Elena Durazo, praises the pope for his support for paying workers a living wage. Working family supporters from around the country are encouraged to sign the letter.

For years, Republicans have attempted to use immigration as a wedge issue to drive voter turnout, with punitive policy proposals and increasingly vitriolic rhetoric coming from candidates from the top to the bottom or the Republican ticket. A growing body of evidence shows that their plans have backfired on them and that Latino voters, many of whom historical voted for Republicans or considered doing so, are being driven away from the party and continued pursuit of such an agenda threatens to make the GOP a permanent minority party.

This Friday, the Los Angeles Black Worker Center (BWC) is holding its first-ever Black Workers Congress to bring workers and the Los Angeles community together to build support and share knowledge to transform the jobs crisis in communities of color.

In Bakersfield, Calif., on Wednesday, thousands rallied outside the office of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R) in support of a comprehensive immigration policy that includes a road map to citizenship. Republican leaders say they will not bring up the bill that was passed by the Senate, but instead will focus on several smaller immigration bills. María Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said there will be consequences if House Republicans block the Senate bill.

On Aug. 14, hundreds of cars from more than 30 California cities will join in a caravan to Bakersfield to visit Congressman Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office to tell him to support an immigration policy with a road map to citizenship. This is the first of many activities in support of a new immigration policy that California's working families are planning.

Not in California? Text NOW to 235246 to tell House Speaker Boehner you want a vote on citizenship. Standard data and messaging rates may apply.

It's not every day a former manufacturing hub for middle-class jobs gets to reinvent itself after the factories and plants shut down and ship off. But that's exactly what's happening in Long Beach, Calif., in Los Angeles County.